


The Marked Ones

by kolives



Category: The Maze Runner (2014), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Self-Esteem Issues, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-06 05:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4209798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kolives/pseuds/kolives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thomas was always the one to stick out. He never fit in because he was so different, and he was hated for his differences. In this world you are born with the words of your soulmate tattooed on your wrist. If those words are not on your wrist you are markless and there is no one intended to be with you until the end of forever. Thomas is markless and he hate it, hates everything actually. Until one day he wakes with multiple soulmarks, which never happened to anyone. Ever. Then he meets two more boys with the same peculiar situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fic, be gentle with me! Also I welcome any and all constructive criticism. Please enjoy!

When babies are born, they cry. They don’t cry because the doctors gives him or her “the spank of life”. No, the reason babies cry is because he or she is getting their soulmark tattooed somewhere on their body. Not like some tattoo artist comes and paints it on their tiny bodies. The mark magically appears on their tiny arms, legs, wrist or neck, it could appear anywhere. Tattoos are painful, no matter where you get them and how old you are when you get them. Therefore, babies cry when they get theirs. The soulmark consists of the first words your soulmate will greet you with. Sometimes, the baby doesn't get their soulmark at birth. Most times the baby is a still born. It’s very tragic when that happens, these poor little ones haven't even lived one minute and they’re without a soulmate and know no love. There are other times when the baby lives markless and are ridiculed. These people live lonely and disappointing lives. They are discriminated and abandoned. You’ll find them living on the streets, too depressed and ashamed to look for jobs or start a life. I mean, it’s pointless really, no one would offer them a job anyways.   
The teenage years of the markless are the worst. During high school, most people have already found their soulmates and, if you haven't found your other half yet, but have your soulmark, people will comfort you, hug you, smile at you and promise that your soulmate will eventually find you. The markless aren’t so lucky, they’re picked on, bullied, and pushed away from everyone. A markless person can never get away from the shame, even at their own home they're looked down on.   
I am markless.  
I was born without a soulmark, and I lived. I’m living... barely living. I hate seeing my markless body. No tattoos or any ink anywhere. I would go and get a tattoo of some random phrase and pretend that it’s my soul mark. But of course, the inky black color that makes a soulmark is illegal to use for personal tattoos, personal tattoos are done in beautiful watercoloring style. We believe bodies are beautiful, and that we should make them as beautiful as we ourselves want. None cares about the amount of tattoos you have, or piercings, if you’re short, tall, boy, girl, both, dark, light, or anywhere in between. All we care about is your soulmark. Since I don't have a soulmark, I make my own marks, generally... with razors.  
I don’t keep it a secret, everyone knows, my family sees them during the summer at our family pool parties. They see them on my wrist, they're smaller though and not so deep. I have deeper ones on my thighs, but my swimming trunks cover those. They all look away and pretend they don’t see the scabbing over cuts. My family members will never greet me directly. They’ll say hello to my younger brother and his soulmate. They’ll gush over how beautiful she is and how beautiful his fucking soulmark is. All I get is “Oh…Thomas…” and a simple nod. That’s how I passed through life, with ignorant family, ignorant people, and being the unlucky 3% of the markless population.   
Then one day it all changed. I woke up bleeding from my arms, the pain almost unbearable. I woke with a scream and ran to the bathroom. I saw the blood running from the bend of my elbows. I took of my pajama pants and got in to the shower to wash of the small trickles of blood, something that was muscle memory. I looked down at my arms to see what had caused the bleeding. What I saw was something that was virtually impossible.   
In the darkest, inkiest black color I’ve ever seen on anyone were the words “Don’t” on my right arm and “You’re beautiful” on my left. My soulmark, or rather soulmarks.


	2. Chapter 2

I didn’t know what to do. I was about to scream my head off out of frustration when someone banged at my bathroom door.   
“Thomas! You’re going to be late for school!” my mom. “Hurry the fuck up!” Yeah, my loving mother, note sarcasm.   
I got out of the shower and quickly changed in to black jeans and a gray t-shirt. I was about to walk out when I looked back down at my arms. The words stood out so brilliantly in my pale skin. “Don’t” and “You’re beautiful”. I went back in my room to my closet and put on a long sleeved plaid shirt, I had to hide the marks until I found out what the hell was going on with me.   
“Thomas?” I heard my younger brother Chuck call from outside my bedroom.   
“Yeah Chuck?”  
Chuck is the only one in the family who is nice to me. Barely fourteen years old and he already found his soulmate. I’m just sometimes mean to the little guy because everyone favors him because of his stupid soulmark. “Can I borrow your yellow crayon?” Fucking found the girl in second grade while they were coloring in class.   
“Are you ready yet?” his voice brought me back to attention. “Yeah, let’s go” I reply   
We walk downstairs and out the front door, but not before my parents overwhelm him with kisses and wishes for a good day. In turn, I get nothing. We get in the car that I’m only allowed to use if Chuck is going with me. He even get to keep the keys. If he isn’t going to school, I walk.   
The drive is silent, as usual. Sometimes Chuck will talk my ears off about the things he learned at school or about his soulmate. We get to school in thirty minutes and he hops off to go to the freshman building. I drag myself over to the senior one. Our school is divided into four sections, each division for a class level. The school goes from kindergarten to twelfth grade, making it thirteen buildings in total, which is pretty big; still the city of Glade is one of the biggest cities in the world.   
I have to stay in the same damn building for the next seven hours. Five floors and there’s no escaping the torment, the same people have picked on me for basically my whole life.   
“Hey fuckface”  
Ah, Gally. He’s the main one to pick on me; I think he’s just letting out his anger on me because my best friend is his soulmate. “Stop picking on him and pick up your grades dumbass”. He likes his tattoo because he likes them ‘feisty’, according to Gally.   
“You’ve got five minutes to run, shithead”  
Boy does he love cursing.  
“One…” I ran straight forward, pushing past him, and in to the building. I hear him calling my name with a string of profanity attached to it; I ignore it and keep running. People say I’m a good runner, maybe is because I’ve always been running away from something or someone my whole life, or maybe I was some kind of running person in my past life, if you believe in that sort of thing. All I know is that I do a lot of it now.   
I open the door to the boy’s bathroom and lock it behind me. I slide down the closed door and breathe heavily. Hopefully he lost me on the crowd and all the complicated twists and turns I took. It started getting hot from all the running so I stood up and took of my flannel along with my backpack.   
The bathroom seemed empty, I saw no one around. I walked up to the sink and splashed some water on my face. I looked up in to the mirror and saw how the words popped out from my skin and the scars. For once, I felt that my scars looked ugly. I regretted them and that made me angry. It like they were trying to outshine the beautiful soulmarks that just appeared on my arms. I was angry at the universe’s way of saying ‘Fuck you, Thomas’. My whole life I hated my body and the plainness of it all. There were no marks anywhere. So I was making marks of my own; cuts, scratches, burns, anything that would leave something on my body. Now, in the end, I got the marks that I seemed to have always wanted.   
“Don’t”  
“You’re beautiful”  
They seemed ugly now too. I wanted them off my skin and mind. I wanted them gone. With tears streaming down my reddened face, I angrily reach inside my backpack to pull out my razor.   
Suddenly the bathroom stalls opened. I quickly turned around and faced the noise. Two boys, or more like damn angels, came forward. They were so beautiful and I recognized them right away, Minho and Newt. What they were doing in a bathroom stall together? I was honestly jealous if they were hooking up in the bathroom stall. They would make such beautiful babies, you know…if that was possible.   
Minho was a track runner, and he was markless. The only reason he wasn’t picked on was because he was the athletic star of school and super hot. Girls and boys threw themselves at him and left crying when he didn’t say what was tattooed on their body. Those actions were pointless though because they all knew he didn't have a soulmark. Idiots.  
Newt was also markless, and he also was picked on like me. I think even worse than me actually. He’s an only child and people kept apologizing to his parents for having such ‘abomination’ in their house and telling them to have another child to ‘make it better’. How do I know this? My parents were the ones that kept apologizing to his. Newt even attempted suicide once, jumped off the top of his roof, but only broke his leg; his house wasn’t tall enough to cause much damage. His parents didn’t take him to the hospital, so his leg never healed properly and he has a small limp now, cute limp, in my opinion.   
After the initial shook had passed, I hurriedly tried to grab my backpack and leave but Minho grabbed my right arm where the soulmark was. I gasped quietly as he did; I was hoping against all odd he didn’t see the mark. There would be questions he’d ask and answers that I don't have.   
“Don’t,” he said firmly. I was about to face in surprise, because holy shit he just said what was written for my soulmark. There were 100 different things buzzing through my head and at the forefront was a single question. Don't what? Then I realized the razor was still in my hand, my bleeding hand. I had gripped the thing in my anger and rush to leave that I didn’t even notice it was bleeding.   
He was holding the arm that my hand had the razor in; I dropped it wordlessly and took a step back. I was about to make a second attempt at leaving when Newt grasped my other elbow and whispered, “You’re beautiful.” Let me just tell you, that accent made me go weak in the knees.   
It was too overwhelming. I didn’t have soulmates, or soulmarks to identify them. Hell, no one had two marks. Everyone just had one. I’m just Thomas. Alone, worthless, marvels, Thomas. I didn’t know what to do; they kept me pinned down with confused looks. So I did the only thing I know to do. I ran.   
I ran as fast as I could, placing my flannel on as I pushed past all the students in the hall. My backpack long forgotten with those two beautiful boys. The soulmarks began to burn as much as my legs and lungs were. Everything was on fire as I pushed myself beyond my running limit. I knew I had to push myself because Minho was a track runner, not to mention long distance.   
“Thomas!” I heard Minho calling after me and two short seconds later, the bell rang.   
Students crowded everywhere as the bell rang to rush and get to class on time. I was never more thankful for all those bastards crowding around Minho. I kept running until I was out of the school and heeded towards an abandoned building I visit when I want to get away from people. So I visit this place often, like every day.   
I sat down on the cracked concrete floor and once again breathed out heavy breathes. It’s impossible. It can’t be true that I found my soulmates because I wasn’t born with these damn marks. You are born with one mark, and if you aren’t born with it you never get it. How is it even possible that I get two when I’m seventeen years old for fuck’s sake!? I didn’t want to talk to them because maybe they were really my soulmates and then this crazy situation would become all too real. I wouldn’t be able to take that reality.   
Another thing that was stopping me was that I feel like I’m not worthy of having them. I was total shit, the people who gave birth to me constantly reminded me of this fact, and they looked excessively beautiful to be human. I just had to avoid them, that’s all. I wasn’t worthy and they wouldn’t want me anyways.   
“Just don’t talk to them,” I told myself. Just don’t talk to them.


	3. Chapter 3

After my breathing settled, I felt pain. Pain in my legs from running, pain in my lungs from harshly breathing in the cold morning air, pain on my arms because of the soulmarks. I could physically feel every single letter formed on my arm in a painful way. I couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't take this cruel, sick, and twisted joke the world decided to play on me. So I yelled.   
I screamed from the top of my lungs. This brought on even more pain because my lungs barely had any air in it from the running. I screamed so loud I was 98.5% sure I ripped my vocal cords. In the end, the 1.5% won so I started to mumble. I needed to get to back to school to pick up Chuck. I was freaking out too much because Minho and Newt have probably forgotten about me now, yet, I couldn't forget about them.   
I started to laugh.   
"Holy shit" I sad aloud “I can't believe that fucking Minho is my soulmate. So many people want him as their own and now . . . now he’s mine” the last part comes out as a whisper. “And Newt, he’s like the damn sunshine. He’s mine, too.”  
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling because I fell in love with the small smiles Newt let others see on a rare occasion. I loved the way Minho’s arms looked as he pushed himself to run faster, and how they looked when he hugged a friend as he greeted them. Maybe, just maybe, this could be a good thing, they were both markless like me, they might’ve been freaking out just as much as I was two minutes ago, after all, this was too much for an eighteen year old handle.   
“I could just forget about them. . .” I said after thinking about this whole ordeal. Minho and Newt don’t deserve a shit-talking, sarcastic, asshole like myself. Minho himself is an ass to others, but he somehow does it in a more likable manner.   
I was exhausted. I looked at my plainly simple watch and saw that it was only 9:32AM meaning I had about six more hours until I needed to pick up Chuck. I could sleep for a bit until then, not like my parents, teacher, or anyone else would care about me skipping school. I walked to the back left corner of the empty room and settled in my usual sleeping spot, yes usual, I sleep here when I want to escape my parents, which is surprisingly very often.  
Once again, not sarcasm.   
So I set the alarm on my 2008 flip phone my parents bought it for me, in case of Chuck related emergencies, they got him the iPhone 6. . .plus. After that, I began to drift off into a dreamless sleep.   
* * *  
I woke up at what I thought was the sound of my alarm going off at 2:30PM, but when I fully woke up, I realized my phone was ringing and it was actually 3:30PM. Stupid alarm never went off. Typical, nothing ever works for me.  
“Fuck” I said with a sigh. Chuck and I should’ve been home by now. I pick myself up and flip open my phone to answer whoever was on the other side of the line. A phone this fancy doesn’t really have caller ID that works. Before I could get in a ‘hey’ or anything else, Chuck began to babble on the other side. He manages to tell me in his panic that I should head back to school now because he lied to our parents about me taking him out to get ice cream and he absolutely hates lying to them. No sarcasm, he truly hates lying to them and anyone else. Yet he did lie for me so I should be thankful and actually take him to get ice cream later.  
“Whatever” I say in a monotone voice and unceremoniously close my phone. I guess I could use another run. So, I ran again. Running all the way back to school took me a good fifteen minutes.   
There by the car stood my worrisome little brother, holding the keys to the car in one hand and my backpack in the other. Shit. Did he talk to Minho and Newt? “How…how’d you get my backpack?” I asked   
“That track runner dude came up to me and asked if I was your little brother. I said ‘yeah’ and then he gave me your backpack to give back to you, said you left it in one of your classes” he replied.   
I didn’t know why, but I felt a little irritable maybe slightly jealous. Everyone who ever meets Chuck falls in love with him on the spot. It’s those damn puppy dog eyes and pick chubby cheeks. Minho was supposed to be falling in love with me.  
Wait…no. I was planning to avoid him and Newt at all costs. This soulmate bullshit was not going to happen, not to me. Besides it looks like they already got each other. I shook my head to get it cleared and mumbled a thanks to Chuck as I grabbed my bag from him. Then I got into the driver’s seat and as soon as Chuck landed in the passenger side he started to talk about how I need to lie to mom and dad now.  
“You need to do all the talking because you know I hate lying to them. They're too kind to lie to” he said sadly.   
Yeah right, they’re way too kind to lie to.  
* * *

The moment we stepped in front of the door, Chuck was bombarded with questions about the ice cream trip we supposedly took.  
“How was your ice cream trip? What flavor did you get? Did Thomas drove safely? Did the ice cream tasted good?”  
He looked up at me with worried, pleading eyes. I couldn’t resist them, no one could. Even as much as I dislike Chuck, he’s still my baby brother and those damn puppy eyes were still cute as hell. I let out a heavy sigh.  
“The little trip was fun, he was smiling the whole way there. We both ordered a simple vanilla and he told me it tasted pretty good” I finished my fake summery with a gentle pat on Chuck’s back with a small wink. I turned around to go up the stairs and in to my room, but before I got to the last top step I turned around to add “Oh, and I’m an excellent driver thank you very much” then I turned around and proceed to my room, shutting the door behind me.   
Now I was alone with my thoughts again. Stuck in the smallest room in this house like a fucking Cinderella, all that I was missing now was my knight, or rather knights, in shining armors to come and rescue me.  
I heard pebbles being thrown at my window. I rolled my eyes as I walked over to the window, pulled it open, and stuck my middle finger out without looking.  
“Rude” I heard a familiar voice call out.   
“Yeah just hurry up and get in” I called out as I jumped on to my bed, belly down. I heard feet landing on the floor by the window and then walking towards the bed and me.   
“Why are you always so bitchy?” she laughed out “Be a woman and tell me what went wrong today, I didn’t see you in any of our classes”, I laughed at her saying, she’s always telling others to ‘be a woman’ instead of the usual ‘be a man’. She makes me feel less shitty about things sometimes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 4 and if you'd like you can follow me on tumblr here: kolives.tumblr.com  
> And thanks for reading, you're all so nice :')

Teresa was my only and one friend. Her parents advocated the rights for the markless. They try to get them jobs, homes, food, the basics needs to stay alive. When my parents used to leave five years old me alone outside the house, Teresa’s parents would take me in to their house. I would spend most of my days there; my parents didn’t even bother to ask where I was. Actually, they didn’t even ask me to return home, I only would go back home because I missed my own bed and room, even if they were smaller that Teresa’s. I was also just a little kid so I missed my ‘mommy and daddy’ as well. So basically… I grew up with her, some people even thought we were twins as younger kids, I admit that we look alike, except for her dazzling blue eyes contrasting my plain brown ones.  
“Oh c’mon, Tom! Just talk to me about it” she whined next to me on my bed. We were sitting up against the headboard. “Be a girl with me for once.”  
Hell yeah! This fucking beauty is mine!  
Teresa’s mark was complete with exclamation points and uncensored curse words. Her parents probably had a tough time explaining the biggest curse word to little, innocent Teresa. I wondered how it felt to have him as a soulmate. So I asked.   
“How is being Gally’s soulmate?” She gave me look that said she was going to kill me, but she responded with “It’s not as bad as you think” and thoughtful look.   
“Hm…” I hummed out “Explain”  
“Well, he’s really just a soft teddy bear. But when I first met him that faithful day of freshman year” she began with an overly dramatic flare, but then returned to a regular tone as she went on. “I thought he would never change. I was so angry that he kept picking on you and he was a damn idiot too! He was failing all of his classes and that made me even angrier – I was furious - when he said those words to me!” she was fuming by this time, she always is when she retells this story. I had to calm her down before she punched something, or me.   
“Then you ran away and avoided him in everyday humanly possible for the whole week” I reminded her. Remembering that week gave her happier feelings for Gally, reminding her of the good in him…what little there is.   
“Yeah” she said with a smile” he kept breaking in to my locker to put chocolates, teddy bears, and all these other cheesy as hell love notes. Then that one day I came early to school and caught him in the act. The blush on his face was too cute!” she squealed the last sentence. “Ugh! He was fucking adorable and now, three years later, he gives me a love note once a week. Plus he’s actually studying now and he’s starting to pick less on you” she stated matter of fact.   
“Sometimes, yeah” I mumbled quietly.   
“What do you mean?” the worry was evident in her reply.   
I didn’t like to tell her about Gally beating me on me from time to time because she truly thought that Gally was getting better. I didn’t want to ruin Teresa’s view of him, but her look said I better tell her everything.   
So I did. Everything from my new found soulmarks and soulmates, and the running from Gally. She listened intently to my story, when I told Teresa about being chased by Gally; she quickly sent him a text about ‘having another talk’. Boy, does she have him wrapped around her little finger,   
With a sigh she looked up from her phone and said “Now that I think about it Minho and Newt were acting a pretty strange today” another one of my favorite things Teresa does is that I could tell her the strongest and weirdest things, but she’ll find something stranger and weirder. She acted so normal while I was freaked the fuck out about my new soulmarks. In the end, her calmness calmed me down as well. Teresa continued, “They never really talked before but this morning in calculus they said a few words to each other and then left class and never came back. It was before class even started, you and Gally weren’t there yet. I assume he was waiting to beat you up before the morning bell?”  
I nodded my confirmation for her.   
“Hm…” she hummed knowingly “I couldn't hear what Newt was saying but Minho was being loud, proud, and obnoxious about having all these juniors doing his bidding, as usual” she rolled her eyes in annoyance. Teresa never really liked Minho; I wonder how she feels now that he’s one of my soulmates.  
“Then Newt told him off” she went on “scrawny little kid never said a thing but, dear God, he knows some curse words! Then Minho said something quietly to him and Newt’s eyes almost popped out of his head. They both stood up so fast it made me dizzy, and then they left the room. The both of them barely grabbing their bags”  
I guess that’s why they were in the bathroom, probably freaking out over their new findings. I was curious about what they were doing in their before I ran in. If they were freaking out, at least they already had each other. I was just alone and afraid of everything.   
“They were inseparable for the rest of the day,” Teresa said, finishing her report for the day.  
“I saw them in the bathroom” I finally blurted out.   
“What?!” she practically screamed. I might’ve left that little piece of important information out… oops.   
“Dude! Hush!” I whisper-yelled. “It’s like ten o’clock at night, everyone is asleep and I don't want them to be wake up”  
“Right, right. I’m sorry” she said more quietly “and it’s actually eleven”  
“Seriously? Damn, time flies by when I girl gossip with you” I replied jokingly “Anyways, I saw them there and they said the words on my arms. The words began to burn a little but when they touched my arms, it stopped. Then I…uhh…ran” I finished hesitantly.   
“Fucking…seriously Thomas? You ran from your soulmates?” she questioned angrily.   
“Hey you ran from Gally,” I said accusingly.   
“But that was different” she retorted. I scoffed, “How?”  
“Well, I always knew I was going to have a soulmate. I knew someone was destined for me, and it was Gally. And I was destined for him. He wasn’t going to run away because he knew we were made for each other. Thomas, you thought you were going to be alone your whole life. Now you have two people who just might be destined for you. What if they also run away Tom? They could be so scared from this that they’ll run away. I say that you should take them from their hands and tell them you’ll cherish them forever because you won't be alone now” she finished her mini speech as pebbled were thrown at my window again.   
“Who the hell is that?” I asked out loud, a little worried.   
“Gally” Teresa responded, “I asked him to pick me up for some late night dinner. I know the answer is no, but do you wanna come along?” she always tries to invite me with her and Gally, but I never want to.   
“No, that’s okay. I already had my daily dose of Gally. You go and enjoy have fun” I said.   
“Alright but promise you’ll attempt to talk to Minho and Newt? They’re probably freaking out just like you are” with that she gave me a hug goodbye and climbed out my window. I was about to close it when Gally called out for me.  
“What?” I yelled back.  
“I’m sorry about this morning, man” he responded, yup, he’s in her hands.   
“I accept your apology,” I told him as I closed the window shut. Actually, we’re both in her hands because I would’ve never accepted his apology if it weren’t for my best friend. Teresa rules us all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is just part one of the 'big update' im gonna post another chapter in just an hour or two :)  
> Any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me! <3  
> Also feel free to follow me on tumblr! http://kolives.tumblr.com/

The next day, I woke up to the most irritating noise in the world. I mean this noise was just annoying as fuck. It could make babies and puppies cry, potentially it could kill kittens. I haven’t even opened my eyes and I already wanted to murder someone.   
I rolled out of bed and walked over to my door. It seemed like the noise was coming from there. As I reached out for the door handle, someone began to bang on it and the agitating noise continued to get louder. What was that damn noise?   
Finally I opened the door and there stood my mother. As her mouth moved, the noise followed. Ah! So she was the one making the God-awful noise. I was pretty proud of myself for finding that out on my own so early in the morning, according to my clock it 7 in the morning. With this resolution I closed the door on her, not even bothering to try and understand what she was trying to communicate to me via screeches. She was probably just telling me to hurry up.   
I put on a gray long sleeve shirt, with a black short sleeve under, and dark blue skinny jeans. I looked at myself in the mirror and decided I needed some color in my outfit. I put on my trusty white Converse, that are looking a little more creamy from the use, and was satisfied with that. “There. Good enough” I said to myself. I finished up getting ready and went downstairs to get Chuck.   
“About damn time you came down!” I heard my father telling (read: yelling at) me from the kitchen. “You have to leave now, Chuck needs to get there early for some math tutoring.” Yeah, Dad. Don’t ask your older straight-A son to help with that.  
“But I haven’t had breakfast” I said instead.   
“So…?” came his annoyed response.  
“Right” I sighed, “C’mon Chucky, let’s get going”  
Chuck came running up to me with his backpack on and lunch pail in his hands. It just makes me a little bit jealous that he gets a nice homemade lunch and I’m stuck with whatever thing come out from the school kitchen. “I’m ready,” he said cheerfully.   
“Have a wonderful day” I hear my parents call out in a happy tone. I roll my eyes and follow Chuck out of the house; I know their wishes for a good day aren’t for me.   
“You have breakfast?” I ask Chuck as we get in to the car and he hands me the keys. The car is ‘technically’ his; he gets to keep the keys and everything. I only drive if Chuck is going to school or I have to take him somewhere, otherwise I walk.   
“Yeah, mom made a lot of pancakes” he answered.  
“Of course she did,” I said mostly to myself as I backed out of the driveway. I’m used to the neglect by now, but it still hurts sometimes. 

`~`~`~`

We park in the usual spot at the high school parking lot. There’s a few spread out cars already parked, probably teachers and other faculty. It was only 7:15.  
“I’m sorry you have to be here so early because of me and have nothing to do” Chuck said just as I turned the car off.  
“No it’s fine, I was going to clean out my locker before school starts. It’s messy as hell” I replied.  
“Just like your room” he said with a smile.  
“My room is not-“ I couldn’t even finish my sentence because it would’ve been a lie. “Exactly” he said along with a laugh.  
“Yeah whatever” I laughed with him. We both got of the car and started to walk our separate ways, but not before I tossed him back the keys to the car. He said thanks and good by as he walked away and I walked towards the senior building.  
I was scared to go in and fond Minho and Newt. I told Teresa I would attempt to talk to them, but I didn’t say when. I was getting close to the doors now; my (crappy) phone said it was 7:20 and no new cars in the lot yet. They’re probably not even here yet. I finally reached the doors and walked in to empty, quiet halls.  
I walked up to a trashcan and dragged it to my locker. Might as well make cleaning my locker a little easier. I pull out Chuck’s old iPod from my backpack; he gave it to me when he got the new version for Christmas. Mom and Dad told him to just throw it away, but he insisted I have it. I put on my headphones, turned up the music, and got to work.   
Geez, I had a lot of stuff in here. There were papers upon papers upon papers stuffed in here; there was a sea of them. How I kept up my grades up would forever be a mystery to me. I also don’t know I became this unorganized. As time went by, people started to walk long the hallways. Mostly janitors and teachers, the early bird students came in around 7:30.   
By this time, it started getting hot. Probably from moving around and cleaning. I was about to take off my long sleeve but hesitated at the last minute. What if someone saw my marks? I looked around the nearly empty halls, save for the janitor who was mopping at the far end with headphones in their ears as well. No one even bothered me all morning, it looked like the coast was clear and I was safe to take of my long sleeve. So I took it off. I was happy and grateful for the cool air finally hitting me, but regretted it the next minute when there was a hand placed on my shoulder.   
My first instinct was to flinch, thinking it was Gally who came early to give me beating for a morning workout. He spun me around to face him and I automatically squeezed my eyes shut, preparing to be hit in the face. I just kept listening to the music in my headphones and hoped for the beat down to end quickly. Instead my headphones were gently pulled out of my ears and I heard him chuckling, but it wasn’t in the condescending tone that Gally usually uses.   
No, this laugh made me feel warm inside. It made me fall in love with the person without even seeing them since my eyes were still glued shut. Then made my mark start to burn as I felt a calloused, rough hand grab my right elbow and a softer one grab my left elbow. I finally opened my eyes, stunned.  
Let’s just say that Gally wasn’t the one who grabbed my shoulder.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I've been dead for a while, I was SO caught up with school. I am so so so so so SO S O R R Y!   
> Please forgive me, this isn't the update you deserve but it is what I have saved on my computer from last time! I just edited it and added some things. I'll try to get a proper chapter up as soon as I am able to!   
> If you wanna have a chat with my me tumblr is kolives! Ask me anything on there or bug the shit out of me to update the next chapter!   
> I warms my heart that there are people out there who want to keep reading my story and I'm really trying to find me some time to update, promise!  
> Love you all!!

I think that my face might have shown signs of being surprised mixed with pure horror. Yet their faces probably looked just the same, but with out the horror. It was Minho and Newt. They looked like fish out of water. Their mouths were opening and closing, most likely looking for something to say and not for missing oxygen.   
I wasn’t ready for this; I didn’t want to talk to them, not now at least. They looked so stunned I almost wanted to laugh. I was too distracted looking for a way to escape the impending situation that I didn’t realize what Minho and Newt were doing. They were looking at my bare arms.   
“This is a soulmark” I heard Newt saying to Minho in a shocked voice. “It’s the first thing I said to you,” he continued, looking over at me this time.   
“This is the first thing I said to you” Minho said, observing my right elbow. He gave me an accused look and looked back at him in confusion.   
“How’d you get these marking?” Minho asked in a defensive tone “I know that you’re markless, how did these get on your arms?” his voice was starting to rise in volume.   
“How are you so hot even when you’re acting like such an asshole?” I thought to myself. Seriously, this guy looked good doing anything. Although, honestly, he would look better if he was on top of-  
“Minho, be a bit nicer. Will ya? He hasn’t done anything wrong” Newt said in a caring voice. He turned over to me, brown eyes shining with curiosity.   
“Damn, you look so freaking beautiful” I thought to myself again. Well at least I thought I did. But Newt’s expression tells me I might have spoken my thoughts out load.   
I turn to face Minho, only to see a matched look to Newt’s. Completely dumbfounded. Oh…I’ve defiantly fucked up.   
“I’m so sorry for whatever I did or said. I usually say stupid things all the damn time. I’m just gonna leave now before I keep blabbering on and probably mess up even more.” I felt a huge blush creeping up on to my face and turned around to face my locker. I grab my textbook for my next class and hastily put my long sleeve on again. I didn’t want anyone else to see my soulmarks, and now the hallways were crawling with students once more.   
When I turned around to leave, Minho and Newt were still standing there. Minho had his short sleeve pulled over his shoulder and Newt was showing me his wrist. On Minho’s shoulder the words ‘How could you be so hot even when you’re acting like an asshole?’  
Wait, he heard that?! Well fuck me, that’s embarrassing. I felt my face getting even hotter with the newfound soulmark. Then I looked at Newt’s wrist and sure enough the soulmark said ‘Damn, you look so freaking beautiful’. Geez, I couldn’t even think before I said anything to them. Idiot. I mentally slapped myself because this was just beyond embarrassing and I mean those words are gonna remain on their skin forever.   
I didn’t know what to do, I was trapped here to face what I’ve been trying to avoid. Teresa gave me the option of sooner or later, and I remember choosing later. It looks like life gave me the finger and chose sooner for me instead. Honestly the situation was getting out of hand for me. I needed a breather, and right then the bell rang. I’ve never been so happy for that damn bell.   
Students began to walk around and through us. They kept staring at me and I stared back. Then for a moment, I suddenly wanted to hold Minho and Newt. To hold the people that were made for me and I for them, to forget this overwhelming feeling of uncertainty and anxiety. Soulmates weren’t just made for love or sex. They were your other half, or you know your one-third, meant to be with you for the rest of your life. Through your toughest times and the hardest. To be with you through the thickest of thick and thinnest of thin. I was accepting it; I was accepting my soulmates in to my life. Finally I was going to be happy.   
Just when I was about to reach out for them, Teresa came by and swept me away. She usually has great timing but not this time, definitely not this time. My best friend, my only friend, interrupted my revelation. I was having a goddamn moment!  
She dragged me away from them, yes dragged, and towards English. “You’ll thank me later” Teresa said as she opened the door to our classroom and pushed me inside the empty room.   
“Yeah, Teresa. I’ll thank you for pulling me away from my freaking soulmates just as I was about to hug them.” I deadpanned.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cliffhanger :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, again guys! Thank you for continuing to read!! It means a lot :D  
> I was just wondering through the internet, and I was picturing Teresa wearing this shirt -> http://goo.gl/jeGtok  
> and these pants -> http://goo.gl/HjJirn  
> And I know it's a girl jacket but I thought about it when I was picturing Thomas -> http://goo.gl/LN6lXQ
> 
> Anyways, message me on tumblr what YOU want to happen next because even I don't know what's gonna happen next!   
> JK I do, but I can't decide which route to take :)

So there I was. 

Sitting. 

Sitting and not hugging the two people that were so stupidly beautiful and made just for me. It was torture in the purest form, as it is seriously considered torture to be separated from your soulmate. It’s why everything is much more expensive if they are purchased in twos. Trying to get a discount flight to Paris on your honeymoon? Buying the tickets separately would be cheaper. I wonder how they would be if I purchased a pack of three? 

I didn’t get much time to daydream about flying to Paris with Minho and Newt when Teresa hit me on the head with her notebook. 

“What the hell?” I said just a little too loudly. I turned to her and she made a motion to look at the front of the class. Standing there shaking his head was Mr. Janson (read: Ratman, we all know he looks and acts like a rat). 

"Is there something wrong, Thomas?” he asked with his condescending voice, he always talks to me like that, like I’m not smart enough to understand a word he says.

“No, sir” I reply. 

“Perhaps an after school detention would help you pay attention in my class?” And that’s what he always says, that’s what all the teachers say. I always get after school detention because I’m markless and they can do whatever they want with me and no one would question it. I always accept the undeserved detentions because it beats going on home and taking shit from my parents for the rest of the day. At least, in detention, they won’t talk to me and let me do homework or read in peace. 

“Yeah wha-“ I was cut short by Teressa placing her hand over my month. Gross. 

“But Mr.Janson Thomas is helping me with my school project today and it’s due tomorrow, we have to work on it today” and she bats her pretty long eyelashes and Ratman dismisses my detention with a ‘fine but next time you’re here for two hours.' 

“Pay attention you idiot. And thank me for getting you out of detention so that you can go with Minho and Newt” she whispered to me. 

That’s right. I looked down to my covered arms and remembered that I had two soulmates I had to get back to, and nothing is going to stop me from getting to them. 

Except of course for Teresa dragging me to the unisex bathroom and locking the door when class is dismissed. She's just plain out rude and evil today. This is now the second time she has had bad timing today and that actually never happens. A minute later, right before I was about to call out Teressa on her terrible job of being my best friend, someone knocks on the door. 

Teresa gives me a smirk and says “Don’t freak out” as she opens the door. 

And there in the doorway is none other than Gally. 

This is it. 

This lady and gentlemen, is how I die. 

Before I get a scream out, Gally holds up a hand telling me to shut it. “Calm down,” he says “I’m here to give some things to Teresa, not to hurt you.”

“Please don’t fuck in front of me,” I say

“Wouldn’t you like to see that?" Teresa says with a smirk and holds her arms open for Gally to give her whatever supplies she needs. I’m surprised to see that it’s only some hair gel and cologne. Teressa thanks him with a kiss and ushers him out the door. 

“Does he know?” I ask and Teresa shakes her head as she pushes me towards the sink. 

“Of course not” she answers “He just thinks I want to make you look nice for a presentation you have next period, and since he knows you can't get your hands on gel or a decent smelling cologne at home, he let me borrow some for you, what a sweetheart.”

I reply with an eyeroll but I was actually speechless. Gally was never this nice, like ever. Everyone knows my home situation, it’s how it is for every person who’s markless. Abuse and neglect. But no one ever cares. 

“Tell him I said thanks” I mumbled. 

“Will do" she says with a smile. She begins to go about fixing my hair tossing it to one side and the other, then finally just making it stand up in the front. Teresa called it a quiff or something like that. Then she attempted to clean me up with some paper towels and water then sprayed some cologne over me. Surprisingly, it smelled pretty nice. “It’s show time,” she says as she moves away from the mirror, finally allowing me to see myself in the reflection.

It was’t like Mulan after her makeover and seeing someone completely different and truly beautiful, but rather it was still me. Just with some improvement, my hair was styled for once and Teressa had straightened out my clothes so I don’t look like a bum and my skin had some color in it thanks to the pinching. I guess I do look a little better. This is why Teressa said I’d thank her later, so I can make a better impression. 

“Let’s go Prince Charming” and I’m out the door and walking down the crowded hallway. My eyes searched for my new soulmates but they were nowhere to be found. 

“Where do you think they went?” I asked. 

“Probably in the cafe” she replied. So I took a shape turn down the corridor and towards the cafeteria. “Slow down there, Tom” I heard Teresa say with a laugh. 

I couldn’t help the smile that was spreading across my own face. I was filled with something that was similar to the perpetual anxiety inside me, but this was different. It felt more like adrenaline, the jumpiness was still there but it felt more exciting and I was happier. Things were going to be different and I could feel it, I was going to be accepted into society. I could actually have friends and sit with them to eat lunch. I’ll have two someones to kiss and hold. I can go to Minho’s soccer practices with Newt and we can cheer him on during his games. I know that Newt participates in the Science Fair every year so maybe Minho and I can go and support him. It’s only going to go up from here. 

I finally reached the doors to the cafeteria and stopped abruptly, making Teressa smack her head on my back. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“Hey, Tho-“ I heard her gasp as I ran inside “Thomas wait!"


	8. I'm So Sorry...Please Forgive Me

Hello people who were reading this story like a billion years ago. I am so so sorry that I was writing this story and you all seemed to enjoy it! I guess I'm here to explain why I stopped and ask if you would want me to continue.  
So why I stopped. I guess it was because I was being flooded with school work and then real life work. I got a job, and that took about 8 hours out of my free time during the day, and then homework took another 4 hours out of my free time in the evening. By the time I got everything I had needed to get done during the day was finished, I was way too tired to be writing anything, and I was also not motivated enough. Even if I was seeing all these AMAZING comments you beautiful people left me, my depress was not having it. I felt too tired to keep posting chapters that were long enough to satisfy me and my audience. So I stopped.  
But I'm back! Depression is not having such a tight hole on me as it had in the past! And now I have something bigger to motivate me!!  
So now, the time for my big question...would anyone like me to continue this story or start a new one in another fandom? I'm really into Haikyuu at the moment so I could do a Soulmate AU with that. Or any other suggestions are MORE than welcome. I'm not sure anyone would even read this note, but I'd love to get back into writing!  
As to what will motivate me to keep writing...I feel like a fool for the asking, but I could take donations if you all would be so kind.  
I really want to go to this Japan trip, and I'm trying to save up some money, and I figured I could write this story or another story for all you lovely people if I could get some donations. Even of you could give $1 I would appreciate it SO much. To be honest, I would be thrilled to receive even $0.50.  
Anyways, tell me what ya'll want next! A new story or a continuation of this one!

P.S. I can take donations through my [PayPal](http://www.paypal.me/kolives)

P.P.S. Someone gave me $10 on PayPal!? THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Next chapter will be for you, my dear! Also if anyone would like to talk to me about headcanons in this AU or have little guesses about what will happen next, message me on [tumblr](http://kolives.tumblr.com/) if you'd like! 


	9. Minor Update

Hi!

Letting everyone know...I'll leave this little "vote if I should continue the story" thing open until the end of this week. But it looks like so far people want me to continue this story! So for now, I will be planning out how the story will be going from here. While I'm figuring out the rest of this plot, I join Oikawa week with this Tumblr and so I will be doing this as a warm up to get my writing ideas going once again (also I fucking love Haikyuu so come join this crazy fandom with me mwahaha!!!)

The next proper for this fic will be July 21; it'll be a good long update. Thanks for sticking with me after so long! You won't understand how much I appreciate it!!!

[Encourage me!](http://www.paypal.me/kolives) Please? <3  
[Talk to me](http://kolives.tumblr.com/) if you'd like!


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